Two Reviews for the Price of One

The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684 1706 by John Thornton

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I was not impressed with this book what so ever. It was assigned to my Pre-Colonial African class as an insight to some of the issues in the Kongo however, it didn't turn out to be that great of a read. The book jumped everywhere on topics and it was very difficult to follow. It was not all about Beatriz but more about the political themes of the era. Unless you have to read it, don't.

A History of Modern Europe, Third Edition, Volume One: From the Renaissance to the Age of Napoleon by John Merriman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


For a text book I was rather impressed with this as a whole. The information was detailed but not overly oppressing to read like you can experience in some history text books. The knowledge was straight to the point and far from being plain and dry with detail on what was going on from the Black Death to Napoleon. Everything and anything in between these times that took place in history is in the book. It was an enjoyable read for class and I was actually looking forward to reading the assigned chapters. The only down part was the lack of information of Russia, there were bits and pieces here and there but nothing solid.